The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-12-01

through the air at once and fasten to him,
while the creature emitted kissing sound
like the blowing on of steam. The man
uttered a scream of fright and terror as the
feelers caught him, and sank down in the
boat and clung TO a thwart with the clutch
OF despair.
Mind yon, every thing had taken place in
moment, and wasn't to be blamed for
not knowing exactly what to do. However,
perhaps accomplished all that could have
been done under the circumstance. l
hurled rock after rock at the creature,
striking it fairly several times, but it re-
fused to let go of Thurber. 1t kept two Of
the feelers ready for me, and once, when In
my excitement aud anxiety l approached
too near, one Of the feeIers came so close
to catching me that it struck my foot The
screams of my poor shipmate were terrible
to hear, and they alarmed the crews of sey-
eral vessels half mile away. Two boats
put off for u.s. but they had not passed over
half the distance when the octopus put
forth his strength and jerked Thurber from
his hold and overheard. The water at that
point was twenty feet deep, and it was ap-
parent that there was q sort Of cavern or
recess in the rocks which was the home Of
the creature. We rolled more rocks down,
got long pole and thrust it down, and
after an hours work got hold of the sailors
body and brought it to land. There was
/ terrible cash in his back, made, no doubt,
| By the beak OF the octopus, and wherever
the cups of the feelers had taken hold there
were livid spots and blisters, but neither
| the blood had been sucked out nor any of
the flesh eaten. l do not think any effort
of ours scared the creature into giving up
the dead. 1t had retained it's hold until
certain that life had departed, and had,
| perhaps, clung to it the longer for our at
| tempts. The natives said that my heaving
the stones into the water had annoyed the
octopus and brought him up for fight, and
that but for my action we should have seen
nothing of him.
For over four years l was mate and mas
ter Of small schooner plying between the
| Spice Islands and Singapore, in the interest
| of an American trader. l do not think l
made single trip without seeing from one
to dozen of the horrible devil-fish. One
day in the Banda Sea it fell dead calm, and
| a current drifted US close in upon an island
to the north of the Lesser Timor We let
go the anchor in little bay, and when the
schooner brought up she was in twelve feet
| OF water and within fifty feet Of the beach.
The island was about three miles long by
one broad, and covered with forest and
| underbrush. 1t was charted as uninhab-
| tied, except occasionally by pearl divers or
Wreckers, and as the weather bade fair to
hold pleasant no anchor watch was set. As
the weather was hot the sailors slept on
deck, there being one white man and five
natives. Everything passed OF quietly un-
| til just In the gray of morning, when a ter
rible commotion on deck routed me out. 1t
seemed that an octopus had crawled up the
low side OF the schooner, perhaps to CRAFTY
its curiosity, but seeing the sleeping men
had, perhaps also to crafty its curiosity,
flung feeler at one of them and taken such
hold OF his hand and arm that he awoke
with a shout of pain. The others were also
aroused, and seeing what had happened
they seized whatever weapons were at hand |
and made the octopus release its hold l |
came on deck just as it fell into the water |
alongside, and the splash was as heavy as |
if man had fallen overheard. A portion |
of the feeler which had grasped the sailor |
had been broken off by the blows There |
were three or four feet of it, and for a time |
1t squirmed and twisted about the deck like |
a snake. 1t had touched the mans flesh |
only in one spot on the back of the hand, |
but he made as much ado over it as one
would bullet in the leg. 1t was horrible |
wound, however. The flesh was puckered |
up and blistered, and the spot where the
cup had taken hold looked like an erysip-
elias sore. 1t was long four weeks before
the wound healed, and the scar left closely
resembled that of burn.
had the sailor IN the cabin dressing his
hand, and it was twenty minutes after we
had beaten off the octopus, when there was
another cry from the deck, and heard the
men run forward and tumble into the fore
castle and slide the cover. More from In
stinct than any thought OF danger l closed
the cabin door, then the skylight which
lighted the cabin. There was slide door
In the forecastle bulk-hea communicating
with the hold, and also one from the cabin.
After two or three minutes the sailors came
climbing over the cargo-we being about
one-third full-and l let them into the cabin.
l never saw more frightened lot of men.
and could not at first believe the story
they told. They said that when the octopns
fell into the water he swan off in the di-
rection OF a rocky reef on our port quarter
and distant about two hundred feet After
4 few minutes the men noticed a considera-
BILE commotion in the water and this grad
ually approached. All at once they made
out five or six octopuses at the vessels side.
and before they drew back and ran away
the monsters were throwing their feelers
over the low bulwarks.
There's one of 'em, sir-there,s onep,
shouted the mate at this moment, and we
turned our faces to the skylight, to see
three or four Of the horrible feelers play-
ing overit. Atthe same moment the schoon-
er was canted to port with sudden pull
all of three streaks, or with as much force
as q strong puff of wind would have exer-
cised in the open sea. At this movement
all the natives broke out into a veil of
alright, and, as l sternly rebuked them.
ore of them exclaimed:
30 Captain, the devil fish have coroe
aboaru, and not one Of Us can escaper
There was no longer any douSS that We
were beset by the creatures. There was
not a second in which the feelers were not
playing over the skylight, and others could
be heard fastening to ard dragging things
about the deck. As the entire affair was
afterward put in writing, sworn to by every
man on board. and left with the representa-
tive of the British Government at Surabava
Island of Java, shall not hesitate here to
state particulars. The noise on deck might
be likened to row between four or five
men. Every thing movable was being
moved and flung about. My skylieht had
hard wood frame and heavy glass. and the
feelers found very little to grasp. The
noise made as the cups fastened to the !
glass by suction and let go again was like {
the snap of pair Of pincers. Looking I
from the bulps-eye in the stern I couId see :
that the water was all in a commotion
there was not breath of air ont |
side.
l had a dozen muskets, as MANY mixes !
several cutlasSes and nine nr ,er bofoho. |